Marin IJ Readers' Forum for Sept. 5

Tuesday's editorial regarding the undermining of pension reforms signed into law in 2012 by Gov. Jerry Brown followed the road most traveled when it stated, "Pension reform is going to take persistence and legislative tenacity."

Nearly all members of our Board of Supervisors and city and town councils travel this road, often citing the mantra: "We can't do anything until Sacramento gives us the tools we need."

After Brown's 12-point plan was sliced and diced by the Legislature and emerged as a truncated nine-point plan, largely limited to only new employees, the union-dominated CalPERS board weakened the already minimal reforms by approving new guidelines for what constitutes "regular" pay for determining pensions.

It is increasingly apparent that those who take the road most traveled should take the road less traveled — the constitutional amendment road — by endorsing the Reed Initiative.

Briefly stated, this initiative would protect pension benefits already earned by government employees, permit negotiations over pension benefits to be earned in the future, and safeguard the rights of voters to make changes.

This initiative is currently on hold while the duplicitous summary by our attorney general is being challenged in court.

Meanwhile, Marin council members Larry Chu in Larkspur and Linda Pfeifer in Sausalito are the only Marin politicians who have openly endorsed the Reed Initiative.

What are the others waiting for? More tools from Sacramento?

That might be a long, financially devastating wait.

— Richard G. Tait, Mill Valley

Recall threat needed to stop housing plan

Marin County officials have already decided in favor of a housing element with 781 units rather than the 185 units required by the state.

No amount of letters, logic, public outcry and red shirts will change their minds.

Only when endangered by recall will the supervisors listen to the people of Marin. Without a viable recall threat, the supervisors will support the developers and planning bureaucrats by authorizing 781 units.

Before the supervisors vote to authorize 781 units this December, we need to put the recall alternative squarely in front of them.

We need a countywide organization in place. We need to effectively apply what we've learned during past recall efforts.

We need an active signature collection process that complies with all legal and procedural requirements. We need a strong social media system. We need foot soldiers to collect signatures. We need a significant number of signatures in the bag.

All before the December vote.

Marin, we need to get busy.

— Roy Fray, Corte Madera

Students should try going to bed earlier

The Sept. 3 IJ article referring to the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation to start school later in order to offset teens at risk for chronic sleep loss forgot to mention one important point: going to sleep at a reasonable hour.

Why should it be up to the schools to solve this sleep deprivation problem? Nowhere does the article mention having parents insist that their teens go to sleep at a reasonable hour.

I'm sure parents working together with their teens could come up with a sleep budget that would outline what these teens do with their waking hours.

Items like social media, television and after-school activities could be pared to allow for more sleep and better academic performance. These teens will grow up to enter the workforce and by the time they do, they will have to adjust to their employer's work hours.